It is surprising how fondly Palm is spoken of behind closed doors. Major competitors and partners alike have expressed a fondness for the company in off-the-record conversations in a reaction that we haven't seen for other companies. It is a fondness reminiscent of the feeling you get watching an aging sports hero appear for the first time in years, and you think to yourself, "Wow, he's gotten old."
The former champ
The company tried for a comeback fight this year. Spectators thought we had already seen the company's best, we knew every combination they could throw. Palm took off some weight and got into fighting shape in the Centro, but inside, it was the same aging Palm. Palm took us by surprise with the Foleo, but before that flyweight bout could even begin, the company's new manager threw in the towel. The right move? Perhaps, but as fans of the sport, we were itching to see Palm come out fighting.
We would love to be surprised by Palm this year, but the words "Palm" and "surprise" don't go together very well. They usually sound like, "Surprise, it's the Palm Treo without the antenna!", or "Surprise, our new OS won't be ready until 2009!" We own Palm devices and use them as our business phones, though not exclusively, but we still appreciate the best of what Palm has to offer. Unfortunately, we're not sure Palm will be offering it for much longer.
It could be a contender
Palm will survive the year if the Centro catches fire. We can't see Treo sales keeping the company afloat, and the Centro may not be enough to stave off the impending doom, but with its low price-point and entry-level appeal, it may be positioned just right for the new customers entering the market in the year ahead. Hack another $50 off the price, and it would be a very hard phone to ignore.
But what new products do we expect from Palm in the next year? Well, the Palm Treo 500v could make its way over from Vodafone's network in Europe, but it's really just a big Centro running Windows Mobile. Maybe another new phone, something smaller and lighter, but we don't expect any changes to the OS and interface, and that is where Palm needs to step things up. With the graphical improvements on the recent BlackBerry Pearl 8130s, the Palm OS has now fallen behind BlackBerry as the ugliest smartphone OS on the market. And for multimedia features, a realm of growing importance for smartphones, the Palm OS lags behind by years.
The knockout
Palm can last the 12 rounds of the year ahead, but only with some fancy footwork and a strong punch here and there. But deep down, whatever Palm lashes out with, it will still be coming from the same Palm OS, and that needs to change as quickly as possible. If the fighter goes down for the count in this bout, that will be the company's ultimate legacy.
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